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Cooler Master N200 Review

Cooler Master N200 Closer Look: Working Components:

I removed both side panels and noticed the nice cut out in the motherboard tray that provides easy access for your CPU cooler installation. I had to add some standoffs for the motherboard installation and this was easy to do since Cooler Master included a little installation tool. You use a small Phillips screwdriver with the tool, which has a hex socket to drive the standoffs in securely. Things don't seem so tight now, but I haven't put any components in there just yet. And I am curious as to the air flow in such a small case. Now this case says it supports a front mounted radiator, up to 240mm, and indeed there appears to be room up front for a radiator. Two case fans are included with the N200: one at the rear and one up front. Both are 3-pin 120mm fans. You can see the rear fan and the place for the top fan, although it looks like it will be awfully close to the top of the motherboard. I like the way there seems to be a pocket of space next to where the PSU mounts. I think this space will come in handy for stashing cables. I removed the front panel when I took the picture of the back of the motherboard tray.

Both of the included case fans come with a Molex adapter if you want to power them directly from the PSU. The adapters are easily removed if you want to plug the fans into your motherboard fan headers. The hard drive cage holds two standard spindle hard drives and one SSD can be mounted to the top. The hard drive cage can be removed, if you like, by removing the four thumbscrews from below and two on the top that secure it to the bottom edge of the motherboard tray. If you want to mount a front radiator with fans in a pull configuration, you will need to shift the hard drive cage over. There are mounting holes just for this purpose, which you will see a little further down in this review. In addition to the top mount for the SSD, there are actually three other places to mount an SSD, and we will go over those too.

At first glance the picture on the left may look like the rear of the case, but it is acutally the front with the front fascia removed. Cooler Master left the front mesh wide open for plenty of air flow. You can see the front case fan mounted just to the left of the USB ports. If you mount a 240mm radiator like the Corsair H100, you will need to relocate this fan. There is room for mounting two 120mm fans on the outside face of the case. The picture on the right is the inside of the front fascia, and you can see that there is enough room for front mounted fans. So if you were to mount your radiator with a push / pull fan configuration (four fans), there is room to do it. And the front fascia has no wires attached, which makes removal for cleaning the attached dust filter easy.

In order to get the 240mm radiator into position, you have to remove the upper fan and the upper hard drive cage. The upper hard drive cage can hold a single standard hard drive inside and one SSD mounted from the bottom. The picture on the right shows the upper hard drive cage flipped over so you can see the mounting tabs for an SSD. The front upper fan will be relocated to the top case vent. And since I am using the fans in a pull configuration, I need some more room. The lower hard drive cage can be easily shifted over. Recapping the SSD mounting options: you have one on top of the lower hard drive cage, one that can hang from the bottom of the upper hard drive cage, and two can mount flat against the back plane. However, if you install a larger front radiator, the upper hard drive cage has to be removed, so you lose one SSD mount location.

The usual hardware pack is supplied: screws, standoffs, rubber islolators for the hard drives, cable ties, and a speaker. There is also a nice installation tool for the standoffs. The cable group consists of a USB 2.0 plug, front panel power, reset and activity light plugs, audio plugs, and a USB 3.0 plug.

The instruction set is not bad. Easy to follow.

I decided to do a test fit of the ASUS Maxumus IV Gene-Z motherboard. No problems there. To the right of the motherboard, there are provisions (holes) for mounting two SSDs flat against the back plane, although getting them in or out after you mount a radiator and fans might be a bit challenging. After I removed the upper hard drive cage, I removed the front fan. I still have my antistatic wrist strap on from the motherboard install. You do have a wrist strap, right?

After the Corsair H100 radiator and fans are installed, there is about 5/8" of clearance between the lower fan and the hard drive cage. A little tight, but air can flow. As I mentioned above, it is important to note that there is room on the front of the case to install two 120mm fans if you choose, for a push configuration. The front fascia has room for the fans.

There is plenty of room above the radiator, just below the optical drive bay. Flip the case around and you can see the back side. After I installed the PSU, I noticed that there is a nice pocket along the bottom for stashing cables, and being such a small case, this surprised me.

On the left we have the video card, two hard drives, one SSD, and the radiator / fans all installed. Very snug, but it all fits. And on the right, the finished product.